Mythologizing

Mythologizing is the process of imbuing persons, events, practices, or objects with mythic qualities, transforming them into myths, legends, or archetypes. It involves framing experiences in ways that emphasize extraordinary, enduring, or universal significance beyond what verifiable facts alone would support.

The term derives from myth and the suffix -ize, with English usage dating to the 19th century. In scholarly writing on culture, history, and literature, mythologizing describes how narratives are shaped to suggest meaning that exceeds literal record.

Functions and methods: Mythologizing can aid legitimation, nation-building, social cohesion, and moral instruction, while also shaping group identity and memory. Mechanisms include selective retelling, heroization, etiological or origin tales, ritual framing, and media amplification.

Examples span national founding myths, cults of personality, legends around explorers or reformers, and revisions of religious or scientific narratives to emphasize moral or teleological significance.

Critics argue that mythologizing can obscure critical memory, justify unequal power, or gloss over harm. Scholarly approaches analyze how myths are produced, contested, and mobilized within cultural, political, and historical contexts.